Recently our accessibility team was approached by the Queensland-Government-funded Community Care Smart AT Collaborative with a request to present some webinars on assistive technology use with Apple devices.

Can Siri answer the phone for me?

This is a question that many people ask. Unfortunately Siri cannot answer incoming calls. Maybe in future idevice releases or future iOS upgrades it will be possible. For the meantime, one workaround is to let the call go to voicemail, then ask Siri to play the message to you or return the missed call.

More things Siri can do for you

Siri can:

Read your notifications

Tell you where family member or friends are, provided you all have “Find Friends” turned on. This raises privacy and security concerns so think carefully about whether you turn it on. If you want to you’ll find it under Privacy – Location Services.

Using Siri with Apple apps

In Calendar, you can ask Siri to schedule or reschedule meetings or events, give you details of already scheduled events.

In Reminders, you can ask Siri to remind you to go to the supermarket, call my spouse at 8pm, text Mum when I get home.

In Notes, you can ask Siri to create and find notes.

In Clock, you can ask Siri what the time and/or date is where you are or somewhere else, to set or turn off an alarm (one off or repeating), set a timer.

In Maps, you can ask Siri for directions.

Using Siri with the internet

Ask Siri for restaurant reviews, nearby hardware stores, petrol stations or hospitals and then get directions.

Ask Siri maths and conversion questions or how to say something in another language.

New app connections in iOS 10

Some third-party apps can now be controlled by Siri. Some of the popular ones are WhatsApp, Pinterest and LinkedIn. The list will increase over time.

Don’t like Siri? Try Alex

While Siri does her best to sound natural, sometimes her speech does still sound computer-generated (which of course it is). Alex is a more natural sounding and powerful voice which, for those who use Siri as their voice, can be very empowering. Install Alex under Settings – Accessibility – Voices. Note that you will need quite a bit of storage available.

Can the iPhone/iPad operate completely hands free?

The short answer is almost. The long answer follows over the next few blog posts.

There are two ways to operate an iOS device without using hands. One is with a switch control. The other way is using Siri as a personal assistant which is what this article is about. If you are blind or have low vision, have physical impairment or just do lots of things at once, Siri is about to become your new bestie.

What is Siri

So first of all, what is Siri? Siri is a feature built into iOS devices (and now Mac as well) which is voice operated and which can perform tasks such as:

search the internet and read results out loud,

make a phone call,

send or receive messages,

respond to questions about news, weather, and what’s nearby.

Enabling Siri

Activate Siri by going to Settings – Siri. Turn Siri on with the toggle switch.

Turn on Access on Lock Screen and Allow “Hey Siri”. Turning on “Hey Siri” allows you to use voice commands only, as long as you have an iPhone 6 or newer or are connected to power with an older phone. When you turn on “Hey Siri”, you will be prompted to speak some phrases so that Siri can learn to recognise your voice.

On this settings screen you can also choose which language and accent Siri will use.

It’s a good idea to select “Always” under the Voice Feedback setting because this means Siri will always be improving her ability to recognise your voice.

Under the My Info setting, select yourself in your contacts list.

Using Siri

When you want to use Siri, press and hold the home button until you hear a chime or say “Hey Siri” and wait for the chime. Then give your command or question.

Customising Siri

You can teach Siri about how people are related to you if you want to. If you tell Siri that Mary Smith is your mother, Siri will find Mary in your contacts list and remember the connection. Then you can say, “Text Mum”. Even without telling Siri about any relationships you can ask her something like, “Hey Siri…what’s Joe Brown’s email address?” or “Call Joe Brown on his mobile”.